This invention relates generally to the field of aeronautics and relates particularly to the field of helicopter support systems.
Virtually every major ground-based operation, from search-and-rescue missions to the production of motion picturee to the construction of high rise office buildings, may be aided by the use of air-borne vehicles, due to their ability to cover wide areas with relative ease and to transport personnel or cargo with speed and efficiency. Thus during a search-and-rescue mission over water, long range search planes may be used to find the victims and, once found, helicopter-borne rescue teams may be dispatched to pick up the victims. Likewise, during the production of a motion picture, a director or producer may be unable to gauge the scope of a large scale production set from the ground, but may easily determine the appropriate course of action when viewing the same set from the air. Such observation would again be facilitated by the use of a helicopter.
Despite the obvious utility of helicopters in connection with many ground activities, the use of helicopters is severely limited by their dependence on ground support facilities. Thus, the helicopter may never stray more than a few hours from its source of fuel, service, and prescribed progressive maintenance. Moreover, the helicopter, to be continuously useful, must be close to a source of both parts and skilled labor for its repair and maintenance. Finally, the usefullness of a helicopter is limited by the fact that, should ground borne transportation be necessary at the remote site, the helicopter would be unable to provide such.
Because it is so dependent upon both a source of fuel and a source of repair, utilization of the helicopter to its full potential has never been realized. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a support system for use in conjunction with the helicopter which will allow the use of that helicopter over long distances and for protracted periods of time in remote locations, which support system contains all elements for each of the total number of helicopter configurations, i.e., conversions equipment for each type of operation, i.e., water, rescue, search, litter, cargo carrying, construction, cable laying, firefighting, agricultural spraying, personal transportation, mapping, etc.